‘Forbidden Careers’ For Expats May Be Relaxed, Official Says

A foreigner may soon be able to work as a handicraft artisan, a job currently reserved for Thais. Original image by Matichon.

BANGKOK — An infamous list of occupations reserved only for Thais may soon be a thing of the past, a labor official said Wednesday.

Citing the outdated nature of the law and the need for more foreign workers, labor department head Waranon Pitiwan said his office is considering relaxing the decades-old regulations that reserves 39 jobs for Thai nationals.

“It’s a law that’s been used for a long time. In the present time, society has changed, so policies must change,” Waranon told reporters. “Some jobs that were forbidden may be relaxed so that foreign investors, technicians and academics can come to work here more easily.”

He said some forbidden jobs in the existing regulation don’t make any sense.

“For example, the construction sector has a lot of problems because we only allow migrant workers to work as manual laborers, yet we forbid them from masonry,” Waranon said.

Rights groups have complained the exodus was fueled by the arrests and extortion of workers nationwide as soon as the law was passed, while business operators said there is not enough time to comply with the new legislation.

Asked whether he believes the abolition of some job reservations might mean harder employment for Thais, Adisorn said some occupations, such as engineers and architects, already have qualification exams that demand the applicants be Thai and speak Thai.

Instead of having a blanket ban, the government can also pass a resolution when certain Thai jobs are threatened, he said.

Teeranai Charuvastra can be reached at teeranai@khaosodenglish.com and followed on Twitter at @teeranai_c. He began working for Khaosod newspaper in 2012 before switching to Khaosod English in late 2013. His interests include politics, crime, the monarchy and the latest Naga sightings.